Now What?
by CJfaninSTL
Summary: Lorelai Gilmore suddenly found herself standing in the middle of the street, wrapped in the arms of the only man she ever truly loved, Luke Danes. She is not sure how long their kiss lasted but no matter how long it did last, it still wouldn't be long enough. Oh how she had missed this. Finally, when they parted, neither one knew what to say. Now what?
1. Chapter 1

What Now

Lorelai Gilmore suddenly found herself standing in the middle of the street, wrapped in the arms of the only man she ever truly loved, Luke Danes. She is not sure how long their kiss lasted but no matter how long it did last, it still wouldn't be long enough. Oh how she had missed this. Finally, when they parted, neither one knew what to say, they just smiled at each other somewhat shyly. It was Luke who spoke first.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Now, we go back to the party and we dance," Lorelai answered after a moment had passed.

"Shouldn't we talk…" Luke began, but Lorelai interrupted.

"We will, but not now. I have to focus on Rory right now and this time I have left with her."

"But we will talk…right?" Luke asked with a bit of apprehension in his voice. Lorelai smiled at him and when she did, her eyes crinkled in that way that made Luke's heart skip a beat, something she was well aware of. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips to reassure him.

"I'm pretty sure that kiss warrants at least a chat. Tomorrow." She looped her arm through his and led him back to the party. From a few feet away, Rory Gilmore caught her mother's eye and raised an eyebrow. Lorelai winked at her and smiled. Rory, returned the smile before turning back to her conversation with her best friend Lane Kim Gerbig.

"Would you like to dance with them?" Lorelai asked Luke, but before he could answer, Taylor Doose's voice called out from near the grill.

"Now Luke, these burgers aren't going to grill themselves and you did agree that this would be your thing!" Luke looked at Taylor, then back at Lorelai, then back to Taylor. He sighed. He knew where he wanted to be, but good ol' reliable Luke knew where he had to be.

"I really should finish up those burgers, but make sure to come find me before you leave for the evening, okay?" And as Lorelai nodded, Luke stepped away to head back to the grill. Lorelai spent the rest of the evening making the rounds and talking to all of the party goers alongside Rory. Surprisingly enough, it appeared that only Rory was aware of something going on between Luke and Lorelai. She hadn't seen their kiss, but she had seen them arm and arm and she kept catching them sneaking a glance at each other. Finally, Rory couldn't take it any longer and when she and her mother were somewhat away from the crowd, Rory leaned in and whispered in her mother's ear.

"What is up with you and Luke?!" she asked. Lorelai smiled.

"We kissed! And not some little wimpy kiss…a full-blown, angels on the harp, fireworks bursting overhead kiss."

"What does this mean for you guys!?" Rory asked excitedly.

"It means, we kissed and we will discuss the details later."

"Okay, I will rephrase," Rory rolled her eyes but smiled, "what do you hope it means?" Lorelai glanced at Luke again. He met her gaze and smiled before sliding a burger onto the plate of Miss Patty.

"I hope it means that I won't have to wait 40 years to get my happy ending."


	2. Chapter 5

Four hours later, Lorelai and Rory started to say their goodbyes to the party guests. It was only about ten o'clock at night, but Rory had an early flight out of Hartford so Lorelai knew they should be getting home. Besides that, she wanted some alone time with her daughter on their last night together in who knows how long.

"I'll be right back," Lorelai said as she glanced over to wear Luke was packing up the barbeque supplies. "Why don't you go say goodbye to Lane and meet me by the gazeebo in five minutes?" Rory nodded then turned to go find Lane as Lorelai began to walk towards Luke.

"So Rory and I are taking off," Lorelai said as Luke looked up.

"Why time do you leave in the morning?" he asked.

"Her flight is at eight-thirty so probably about six.

"Why don't' the two of you come by the diner around five? I'll make you anything you want and you two can get one last quality breakfast in together?"

"Luke, you have to be exhausted! Wouldn't you rather sleep?"

"No," he said quickly, "I mean, I won't be asleep anyway. I will probably be up most of the night cleaning up this party."

"By yourself?"

"I recruited Jackson and Zack to help so hopefully it won't take too long." Luke smiled. "So five-ish?"

"five-ish." Lorelai smiled. She started to turn to walk away but Luke stopped her.

"Lorelai, wait. I have something for you." He pulled a box from his pocket and handed it to her. She opened it up and saw a beautiful diamond necklace inside.

"Luke…" was all that Lorelai could manage as she looked from the necklace to Luke, "when did you…how?"

"Liz made it. I've had it in the cash register at the dinner for awhile now, but for some reason I put it in my pocket tonight. Before that kiss. I've wanted to give it to you since she gave it to me, but…"

"It's beautiful. I don't know what to say, except thank you. I love it." Lorelai lifted the necklace from the box. "Will you help me put it on?"

"Turn around" he clasped the necklace into place and she put her hand over it as she turned back to face him. She looked at him for a moment and he looked at her. Neither one said anything at first but then, Luke took a deep breath and went for it. "I love you, Lorelai. I have always loved you. I never stopped loving you." Lorelai wrapped her arms around him and put her head on his chest.

"I love you two. More than you know." She let go of him and smiled. "We will see you at five-ish." And she turned around went to find Rory.


	3. Chapter 2

At half past five, Lorelai and Rory sat at Luke's diner, deep in conversation. Both wishing time would stand still as neither one wanted to face the reality of saying goodbye. The conversation was about everything but it was also about nothing. Finally, Lorelai checked the time on her phone.

"Ten til six. I guess…I guess we should go," she said softly.

"Yeah, I guess," Rory began, but then she stopped, "Mom, why is Luke sleeping at the counter?"

"What?" Lorelai turned around to meet Rory's gaze. Luke had his head resting on his hand and was sound asleep. "Wow, I knew he had a talent for falling asleep anywhere, but he really can fall asleep anywhere!"

"I know he was at the party late and got up early for us, but dang, he is REALLY out!" Rory said with a laugh.

"Well, there was more to it than that. He actually didn't sleep at all and hasn't in two days."

"Why?" Rory asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Because he was too busy planning and putting together your goodbye party. He planned it, tarped it, cooked for it, and cleaned it up mostly by himself with a little help from Sookie, Lane, Zack and Jackson, but mostly, it was him. Sookie said that when they thought it was going to rain and they would have to cancel the party, he went around town collecting the tarps and raincoats. Then he stayed up all night stitching them together and hanging them up over the town square," Lorelai said, retelling the story that had been told to her, and even as she spoke the words, she was still amazed by what Luke had done.

"He did all that? For…" Rory began, but Lorelai interrupted.

"For you."

"For us, mom. He did it for you just as much if not more than he did it for me." Rory smiled at her mom who had turned to look at Luke. Lorelai got up from her chair and walked over to where Luke slept. She put her head close to his and whispered his name. No response. So she said it louder. Still no response. Upon saying it a third time, he jumped and nearly fell out of his chair.

"You okay there, buddy?" Lorelai said with a laugh.

"Fine…I was just…resting my eyes."

"Oh yeah, I could tell. Hey listen, we have to get going."

"Oh, okay," Luke said as he got off the chair and walked over to Rory. "Well…look, Rory, I know that I'm not your father or even your stepfather or anything, but I just want you to know…well, I want you to know that I am proud of you and everything you have accomplished and everything you will accomplish. You deserve this."

Rory smiled and gave Luke a quick hug.

"Luke, I love my father but let's be honest, you have been a bigger part of my life than he has. You may not be my father or even my step father but you are very much LIKE a father to me. Thank you for everything you have done for me all these years and for this amazing party. I won't forget it" This time it was Luke who hugged Rory.

"You have my cell phone number right?" He asked as they parted and Rory nodded to signal that she had. "Use it. Any time for anything." Rory smiled again then grabbed her handbag.

"I'll go wait in the car while you say goodbye to Luke," she said as she slipped out the diner door.

"That was sweet." Lorelai said sincerely. "You are pretty special to her."

"She's pretty special to me too," replied Luke.

"Listen, you head on upstairs and get some sleep and call me when you wake up, okay?"

"Ah, no, I'm okay. Go take her to the airport then come back here. We can have lunch and talk. Figure things out," Luke said as he put a hand on Lorelai's arm. She smiled at him.

"Luke, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you look awful. Go upstairs, go to bed. I'm going to take Rory to the airport, wait around to watch her plane take off and until it is out of sight. I may even wait until she calls me from Chicago. Then I'll go to the Inn and get some work done. After you have gotten no less than seven or eight hours of sleep, give me a call and we'll meet up and talk about our stuff, okay?" Luke nodded slowly, but agreed. He was pretty exhausted after all. "So I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah, see you later." There was a pause of awkwardness as neither one knew how this moment should end…a hug? Kiss? Finally Luke stepped closer to Lorelai and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Bye". Lorelai smiled and left the diner to drive her daughter to the airport.


	4. Chapter 4

It was five o'clock that night before Lorelai heard from Luke.

"Hey!" Lorelai said happily when she heard his voice on the other end of the phone. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I guess I was more tired than I thought. I just woke up. Course now I will be up all night, but ah well," Luke began. "So…"

"So….," Lorelai said slowly, followed by a pause. Luke broke the silence first.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Well, I was just about to take Paul Anka for his walk. Want to walk…and talk with us?" Lorelai asked.

"On my way."

Twenty minutes later, Luke and Lorelai began their walk around Stars Hollow. Neither one knew how to start what they knew would be a difficult conversation.

"How should we start this," Luke asked.

"I guess one of us should start. We have to figure out what went wrong and why to keep it from happening again."

"Yes, you're right….so…," Luke said.

"So…" Lorelai responded.

"Why don't you go first, Lorelai. What are you thinking?"

"Well, right now I am thinking that I'm terrified," Lorelai said with a laugh. "How about I go back to last year. I think…I think for me it started with the whole April thing. I said I understood why you kept that whole thing from me for two months, but the truth is, I didn't understand and I still don't. I won't lie…it hurt and it was confusing and I was pretty angry about it. Can you try and explain to me why you didn't tell me? Did you think I would bail on you? Because I wouldn't have, Luke."

"It's not that I was afraid you would bail on me, it's more that I was afraid that everything we had, everything we were would change and I was right, it did change, but I don't think it would have changed as negatively if I had told you from the beginning. Just…the longer took to tell you, the harder it got and the more I didn't know how to tell you. I know I said it then, but I will say it again and I will say it forever…I am sorry, truly sorry that I kept it from you. I know I hurt you and I will regret that forever."

"I don't want you to regret it forever, Luke. I am so happy you have April in your life. We promised each other back then, no secrets. I want to reinstate that promise, okay?"

"Okay." Luke said. "Now, you. Why didn't you tell me how you were feeling?"

"I don't really know. I have never been one to hold back. Usually I speak before thinking, as you know. I talked to Rory and Sookie…I guess, like you, I was afraid that talking to you about being angry would drive a wedge between us. Crazy how not talking until I exploded on you was worse. I promise in the future I will unleash all of my fury on you." Lorelai said risking a slight smile.

Luke chuckled, "I guess that's all I can ask."

"Your turn. Why did you want to postpone the wedding? Did you not want to marry me?" Lorelai asked as she avoided looking directly at Luke.

"I did want to marry you. Very much. It just got scary…the idea of it, especially after that disaster of a marriage I had to Nicole. I would have married you, Lorelai. I just am unsure of the timing. I should have told you I was having doubts. No doubts about being a relationship with you, just doubts about putting it on paper."

"I get that, especially now after…well you know, the Christopher thing."

"Yeah, about that…let's go there next. Why did you marry Christopher?"


	5. Chapter 6

Lorelai knew this one was coming and the whole Christopher talk is the part she had dreaded the most.

"Because he asked. We were in Paris and he asked. He wanted to marry me, right then and there. And I wanted that whole package. Honestly, I didn't feel right about it that night but I shrugged it off. I thought that feeling would go away and that I could be happy, but I wasn't and he knew it and I knew it. Neither of us were happy. It was over before it started and I regret that it happened, but now it was important because having tried with him and seeing that it was a complete and total failure, I know that I was never really in love with him. He was just convenient. It's the same way with….with that night. The night I went to him. I knew he was weak and I just didn't want to feel what I was feeling. And more than marrying him, my biggest regret in life is that night and hurting you. I'm sorry I hurt you. If I could take it back, I would." Lorelai looked down at her Paul Anka. "I'm just so sorry."


	6. Chapter 3

Luke stopped walking which made Lorelai stop walking. He turned to Lorelai.

"Hey? Look at me." He said but Lorelai hesitated. Look at me, Lorelai."

Lorelai looked up at him and saw that he was smiling which took her by surprise.

"I'm not mad anymore and I don't want you to spend the rest of your life feeling the regret of that. Yeah, I wish it hadn't happen and all that, but I think we had to go through all that pain and drama last year because it is the only way for us to see if we were really meant to be. To see if we could come through all that and after this talk, I think we have come through it. Actually, I know we have come through it and we will be stronger for it. So no more regrets, okay? Let's just move forward. I meant it when I said last that I never stopped loving you and I never will. This past year…I was miserable without you. I missed seeing you every day, I missed your pleas for coffee and the crazy way you could talk me into anything. It was a lonely year."

"I know exactly what you mean," Lorelai began, "I missed the friendship. You, Rory and Sookie are the best friends I have ever had. Not having you was a void that I felt every day. That's the scary part about getting back together. The thought that something could happen and I won't have that friendship."

"Well, we will just make sure that nothing will happen and we won't have that void ever again." Luke said as he leaned in and kissed Lorelai gently. "So…where do we go from here?"

"I think now you take me out on a date. Back to YOUR Luke's. The place you took me on our first date." Lorelai said.

"Okay, but there's something I need to tell you about that….the menu…they updated them. No more history of the place on the back." Luke said quietly with a gleam in his eye. Lorelai feigned a gasp.

"Oh no! Now what will we do for entertainment! Oh, I know, you can pull out that horoscope and read it to me again, that is if you didn't toss it after we broke up." She said with a giggle but to her surprise, Luke pulled his wallet from his pocket and slipped the horoscope out of a pocket.

"Still have it." He smiled and Lorelai looped her arm through his, gave him quick kiss then rested her head on his shoulder as the two continued their walk through Stars Hollow.


End file.
